Miami-based architect Jacob Brillhart has a penchant for uniting buildings with their landscapes—and nowhere is that more evident than in the dreamy new house he designed on man-made Di Lido Island in Miami Beach, Florida. "I wanted to bring the water into the site—hence the two pools," Brillhart says of the project, for which he teamed up with owner Emmanuel Sebag, architect of record Choeff Levy Fischman, and interior design studios Karine Richard Interiors and Dunagan Diverio Design Group.

While vital to the property's design, both of those pools—a 60-foot-long reflecting pool along the home’s glass-lined entrance hall and an infinity pool edging up to Biscayne Bay—are a surprise to visitors. At street level, they are completely hidden, shielded by a lush cluster of palm trees planted by landscape architecture firm Lewis & Nielsen Design. "You drive through the forest and you don't see the house," Brillhart says. "There's a densely planted car park, and you walk though a wooden gate and see the pool at your feet."

A stairway leads to the 6,235-square-foot concrete-and-glass residence, and even inside, there's no forgetting the ocean; a long, interrupted view through the indoor-outdoor space reveals the panoramic Miami skyline. "The idea is living in the landscape and living in the water, since you're literally in Biscayne Bay, on an island created by man," says Brillhart. Unsurprisingly, natural materials abound: engineered white oak flooring, Calacatta marble countertops, teak louvers along the reflecting pool, ipe wood decks. "The overall effect is an extremely tropical feeling," Brillhart explains. "It's completely integrated with the natural world." Reconnecting with the great outdoors never looked so good.

A 60-foot-long reflecting pool runs the full length of the side yard of this Di Lido Island residence off the coast of Miami, designed by Brillhart Architecture. Surrounded by lush landscaping on one side and the house on the other, the space feels like an intimate outdoor room.

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